In 'ugly incident,' Manvel basketball coach punched by angry fan

Manvel basketball coach Greg Devers doesn’t blame what happened Friday night after his Mavericks beat La Marque on the road on the game itself.

The Mavericks beat La Marque 60-45, but afterward Devers was punched in the face when he and his team were confronted by angry fans.

“There was an incident (during the game) when my 6-7 guy (Traylin Farris) got tangled up with one of their kids and I think he accidentally stepped on the guy,” Devers said. “That’s when they were trying to get my 6-7 guy – three guys attack him saying, ‘We’re going to get you cause you stepped on my cousin.’

“I was trying to hold my player back and help one of the mamas that hits the ground. I have one hand on her and one hand on my player – that’s when the guy cold cocked me from the side. I’ll be honest, everything was so blurry then because I had about three or four other guys that started hitting me in the back and so forth.”

Devers said his trainer was following the game on Twitter and saw a tweet at halftime from a fan saying ‘they were going to get the Manvel basketball team after the game.’

Three cars pulled up in front of the gym entrance after the game, Devers said. Like most visiting teams, Manvel stayed in the gym until their buses were out front, but the three cars were in the way.

“Those are the ones that came into the gym and the only cop there was outside trying to figure out who those three cars belonged to,” he said.

Manvel, the state’s fifth-ranked team in Class 4A, rallied in the second half to beat La Marque. Down 30-27 at halftime, the Mavericks outscored the Cougars 21-5 in the third quarter to take control. The teams meet again Feb. 14 at Manvel, and fans should expect extra security.

“The game was very well called,” Devers said. “It had nothing to do with the game. The La Marque players shook our hands and they went to the locker room. After they went to the locker room, that’s when all (heck) broke loose.

“It was an ugly incident. I feel sorry for my fans. We had a couple little kids there that had to witness that.”